Shanzay Subzwari
Artist Statement
My practice is rooted in the tradition of Mughal Miniature painting, a centuries-old, detailed painting tradition from the Mughal era with roots in Persia, the Ottoman Empire and China. Working with gouache and hand-made squirrel hair brushes on paper, I learned to build images slowly and deliberately, layer by layer, with great care and precision. This approach informs other forms of art I undertake, from large-scale acrylic paintings on canvas to paper-cutting and video art. For me, layering is not merely a technique, but a fundamental way of constructing and conveying narrative.
I am drawn to questions of history (particularly post-colonial), politics, society and the deeper dimensions of human experience. One of my primary points of departure is the currency note: an everyday object that quietly carries within it stories of power, culture and collective memory. I use archival currency notes as a foundation upon which new images and ideas are built. My work is an invitation to look more closely at the world around us, and at what lies beneath its surface.
Biography
Shanzay Subzwari is a visual artist and writer with an MFA (distinction) from London Metropolitan University (on the British Chevening Scholarship, 2020). Her international exhibitions and residencies span Finland, Switzerland, Spain, Wales, USA, Italy, Turkey, and Pakistan. She works in miniature painting, video, and papercutting, with pieces held in notable collections, including the South Asian Institute, Chicago. She is an adjunct faculty member of her alma mater, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (2023-24).
Since 2022, she has been in an artist exchange with Welsh artist Lauren Heckler and they received grants from the British Council and Wales Art International to travel to each other's countries. Their collaborative video art was part of the major exhibition, Tigers and Dragons, at Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea, Wales, from May to November 2025. Shanzay received the Charles Wallace Fellowship for artistic research in the UK in 2026 to further this collaboration.
Between 2021-24, Shanzay collaborated with brands like Spotify, SFK Bridals and Khaadi as an artist, designer and model. She hosts the ArtLounge Talks on Instagram, and hosted the 2023 and 2025 Nigaah Art Awards. She founded her Art x Fashion brand, House of Subzwari, in 2025 and is a finalist of the Culture and Creativity Award at the Study UK Alumni Awards 2025 in Pakistan. She recently had her 4th solo exhibition, Lands Beyond the Veil, at VM Gallery in 2026.